Pragmatic language behaviors of adults diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia.

35 adults diagnosed with schizophrenia provided samples of narrative and conversational discourse and completed a criterion-referenced test of pragmatic language ability. There was a significant relationship between performance on pragmatic language tasks and perceived over-all functioning of schizophrenic subjects as measured by psychological assessment. Subjects who were perceived as functioning at low levels on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale from the Diagnostic and 1994 Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders had low self-disclosure in conversation, produced less information in narratives, and produced more nonscorable items on a criterion-referenced test of pragmatic language. Appropriateness of speech suprasegmentals was also related to patients' perceived effectiveness as communicators as well as to their perceived over-all functioning as measured by the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale.

Metalinguistic and pragmatic abilities of participants in adult literacy programs.

The relationship between oral and written language skills was explored in this study involving 97 participants enrolled in an adult literacy program. Pragmatic language skills were assessed in videotaped conversational dyads which were later analyzed for level of conversational assertiveness and responsiveness and for the status of basic interactional skills. Those behaviors which were judged as being most likely to detract from communicative effectiveness were body movement, eye gaze, and facial expression. Metalinguistic/ semantic language skills were assessed with the Test of Word Knowledge (TOWK) (Wiig & Secord, 1991). A significant relationship was found between total scores on the TOWK and reading levels of subjects as they entered the program. Post-testing was conducted approximately 6 to 8 months after the initial testing. These results were available for 22 of the subjects and indicated that, even for adults, some aspects of oral language improve as reading levels increase.

Black English in a Mississippi prison population.

Nine linguistic features unique to Black English were examined in the speech of 87 Black and 77 White inmates of a Mississippi prison population. The purpose of the study was to determine whether Black inmates could be distinguished from White inmates by their use of the present progressive, final stops, distributive be, remote aspect been, noun plurals, third person singular present tense, possessives, consonant clusters, and the copula. Results showed that use of eight of the nine features accurately predicted the ethnicity of the subjects. Only remote aspect been failed to identify ethnic differences. Identification of dialect variation among minority populations and more specifically among prison populations is an important step toward providing effective remediation programs.

Hearing loss in prison inmates.

The incidence of hearing disorders in 34 State Penitentiary prison inmates all with a previous history of drug abuse were investigated. Subjects were evaluated using routine pure-tone air conduction audiometry, immittance measures, and short-latency auditory brain stem responses. Of the 34 inmates, 20 (58.8%) demonstrated normal bilateral peripheral hearing sensitivity, whereas 10 (29.4%) inmates presented with some degree of hearing impairment. In addition, the conflicting results of elevated pure-tone thresholds with normal immittance measures and normal ABR findings suggested that four (11.8%) subjects exhibited functional hearing loss. The results of this study support the reported high incidence of hearing loss in the prison population. The synergistic effects of drug abuse, noise exposure, and head trauma as possible contributing factors are discussed.

Prevalence of speech and hearing disorders in a state penitentiary population.

Speech and hearing screening was conducted with 136 inmates incarcerated at the Mississippi State Penitentiary. The prevalences found for articulation and for fluency disorders were comparable to prevalence figures reported for the general population, whereas the prevalence figures for voice and hearing disorders among the sample group were appreciably higher. The demographics of the subject group as to age, sex, offender status, educational background, and receipt of previous speech/hearing evaluation are reported and discussed relative to screening failure.

Parental attitudes toward and knowledge of stuttering.

Parenteral attitudes toward and knowledge of stuttering were studied in 50 parents of stutterers and 50 parents of nonstutterers following the development of the Parenteral Attitudes Toward Stuttering (PATS) Inventory and the Alabama Stuttering Knowledge (ASK) Test. Results indicated that the parents of nonstutterers displayed more desirable attitudes toward stuttering and more accurate knowledge of stuttering than did the parents of stutterers. Although the PATS Inventory and the ASK Test as presently constructed may be clinically useful particularly with respect to parental counseling, continued research appears warranted to enhance their usefulness as research and clinical instruments.